After having read a few articles outlining HR strategies to reel in tech savvy career-ists from generation Y and highly educated pragmatists of generation X, it became clear that I had no idea just which generation defined me. I didn't wear capri pants, I couldn't text or take a photo with my cell phone and I think my career drive has been in first gear for the 7 years following my college graduation.
So like any good American, I decided to take a test.
The questions were all centered around technology and sounded something like "do you e-mail to communicate with your parents" (that's a yes for me), or "do you know how to download music illegally?" (that's a no).
I scored a 5, which placed me within the "jones generation" or those born between 1954-1966. Really? I embody a generation that is often overlooked due to its mainstream characteristics? How terrible does that sound? Surely the test was flawed.
I proceeded to give the test to my husband (technically a generation Y guy like myself) and my father (a blue-blood baby boomer) and each scored outside their preconceived generations.
Why do we feel the need to categorize each generation as it comes and goes? And what part of the population are we really talking about? I can't help from suspecting that these generalizations are centered around class and consumer trends (one article stated that flip-flops were the preferred foot ware of the Y generation). Moving beyond flip-flops, cell-phone capabilities and Pepsi commercials, I should note that there were three questions left off the test:
-Are your parents divorced?
-Have you ever been hired for more than 3 years by one employer?
-Are you in debt?
As negative as these questions might sound, I truly believe that these are the defining characteristics of the X/Y generation... an uprooted generation of recyclers, immigrants, war veterans and Obama supporters often raised in single parent households or joint custody. Consequently they are a resourceful group, finding community in alternative ways and choosing hope in uncertain times.
Here we have some photos of the Becher-Weaver Center, which is currently owned by UNCG and operates as a warehouse space. It's located off Spring Garden several blocks west of campus. Railroad tracks flank the building's backside and and an office space stand in front. Becher-Weaver isn't going to win any beauty pageants-- but the location is alright and there is a nice field on one side, which could be ideal for a match of ultimate or hanging the laundry out to dry.
This photo is a branch of the Long Island Rail freight route which still serves Bushwick, a neighborhood in northeast Brooklyn. Known for its industrial landscape, indie bars, affordable "warehousing", Latino population and ideal placement on the NY subway line; Bushwick has become a desirable location for the young hipsters who flock to this fringe community. Skinny jeans, paperback novels stuffed into back pockets, stylish mullets, dexter glasses, stripped bikes, i phones and scarves define the look of this middle class population "having a go" at a bohemian life. Bushwick hipsters who are looking to invest in their community as first time home buyers will surely gravitate towards warehouse condos where warn patina contrasts nicely with sleek technology and homey stylings.
